Improvement in mattresses



J. l HALEY Improvement in Mattressesl No. 123,623, 'Pa-tente dFeb '13,1872.

JOHN J. HALEY, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAT TRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,628, dated February 13, 1872.

ment in Mattresses, 850., and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawing which accompanies and forms part of this specification, is a description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

Of late years sponge has come extensively into use as stuffing in the manufacture of beds,

pillows, cushions, 850., the sponge being spe cially prepared to impart the requisite elas, ticity. Mattresses have been made of such sponge, but while it possesses sufficient elasticity it has been difficult to preserve the proper form in a mattress made or filled with it. For this reason thesponge has been placed in compartments, or between flexible partitions extending across the mattress. Mattresses thus made are too soft to suit many persons, or as they express it are too much like feathers. To remedy this, sponge-mattresses have had the sponge covered on each side by a layer of hair, the hair and sponge being tufted together, by tufts or stitches extending through the mattress. Such construction, however, contracts the form of the mattress, leaving the sponge no room after compressing to regain its form or expand by its elasticity.

In my construction I make a mattress with a principal filling of sponge, to give the requisite body, softness, and elasticity, the sponge being secured in compartments or pockets ex tending across the mattress, and on each side of the sponge I place a layer of hair, said layer being tufted through by stitches extending only from the outer tick to the cloth on the opposite side of the same layer, the hair being thus preserved in a layer on each side of the sponge, while the sponge is left free to expand after compression.

A mattress thus made is very springy, may always be brought to shape by slight shaking, and is never too soft, always having the very desirable surfaces only best attained with hair, together with the sub-softness and elasticity due to the properly-prepared sponge. A mattress thus made can never become permanently matted or misshaped, and the construction is yalu'able not only on account of its great desirableness as a couch to lie upon,

but also on account of the perfection of form or the readiness with which the perfection of form is reproduced. It is vina mattress thus made that my invention consists; or in a mattress the center or body of which being formed of sponge contained in and retained by suitable compartments or pockets, such body of sponge is surfaced on each side by a layer of hair, which layer is tufted through, and only through, to the cloth covering the adjacent surface of the sponge.

The drawing represents in section a mattress embodying my invention.

a a denote the compartments or pockets, each stuffed with sponge, b. Between the cloth 0, on each upper and lower side of the sponge and the adjacent tick, is the layer of hair 01, said hair being held in place by the tufts or stitches e, which extend from each covering a through the hair-layer to the outer tick f, but do not cross the sponge. By this disposition of the hair and sponge the hair is kept in proper place by the tufts or stitches, and forms a surface to the soft cushion of sponge beneath, while such sponge is left free to regain its form after having been compressed by the weight of a person lying upon the mattress. Instead of hair, husk, excelsior, or other equivalent material may be employed, but I prefer the hair.

I claim- A mattress, formed with a main filling of sponge contained in the pockets or compartments, such sponge being surfaced on each side by a layer of hair or other material, interposed between the covering 0 and the outer ticking, and tufted to such covering and the outer ticking, butnot through the sponge filling.

JOHN J. HALEY.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS GOULD, M. W. FROTHINGHAM. 

